Online influencer with 18 million followers
Every month there seems to be a newly minted beauty star — someone whose social media feed highlights trends, how-tos, product reviews and more to her plentiful followers.
But in the world of influencers, not all fight in the same weight class. And one woman in particular has emerged as a force to be reckoned with, a Kim Kardashian West of the beauty influencer economy, if you will: Huda Kattan of @HudaBeauty, who has 18 million Instagram followers, heads a namesake make-up line and is introducing a Huda Beauty emoji collection called Hudamoji (not unlike Kardashian West’s Kimoji) this spring.
That there is a resemblance to Kardashian West in looks (dark and curvaceous), style (glamorous and sexy) and family (Kattan’s business partner is her sister Mona Kattan; her sister Alya is her social media manager) only fuels the comparisons. Based in Dubai, Huda Kattan was in New York recently for a Women’s Wear Daily beauty event — last year the publication anointed her the Digital Innovator of the Year in the “prestige” beauty category.
“I can understand getting compared to the Kardashians,” she said, reclining on a plush seat at the Park Hyatt in Midtown. “We’re 2017 women who are ultimately going out there, pursuing something out of passion and making a business out of it. I just can’t wait for the comparisons to stop.”
With what she has in store this year, Kattan, 33, may just step out from the Kardashian shadow. Her make-up line, Huda Beauty, which she introduced in 2013 with a false lashes collection, successfully expanded last year with the addition of hit lipliners, liquid matte lipsticks and an eyeshadow palette.
Sephora, for one, was surprised at how well her lipliners (called Lip Contours because Kattan uses them to make her lips look bigger, she said) sold. As a category, lipliners are often an afterthought because they were created to support lipsticks. Yet Kattan’s Lip Contour release last May was “one of the biggest launches in years”, said Artemis Patrick, the senior vice-president for merchandising at the retailer.
Certainly Sephora is no stranger to make-up lines driven by social media. Anastasia Beverly Hills, Kat Von D and Natasha Denona all wield social media might. But Kattan is unique for a global reach that spans the United States, the Middle East and beyond.
“It’s rare for one person to be relatable across so many countries and cultures,” Patrick said. “Obviously, it’s the power of the internet, but it’s a testament to her business acumen that she can translate and harness the power of her followers.”
Indeed, Huda Beauty continues to be a top make-up brand at Sephora Middle East.
And at Harrods in London, there have been lines for Huda Beauty ever since the company set up a counter in August. It’s “one of our fastest growing colour make-up brands,” said Annalise Fard, the beauty and home director at the store.
Relatable and sometimes giggly, Kattan is not in the make-up game to make a quick buck. “We’ve had really big brands approach us because they’re interested in investing,” she said. “But we own this, and I’m building a brand.”
Kattan was particularly inspired by “originals, like Michelle Phan”, she said, adding: “Her YouTube videos were like watching a movie.” But her favourite was Kandee Johnson, because, she said, “she did really good transformations”.
Eventually, Kattan would eclipse them all. Though she dabbled in YouTube, she never felt comfortable on the platform. “I fell in love with Instagram,” she said, even rattling off the exact month (October 2012) and phone model (iPhone 4) she had when she started her account. A couple of years later, she reached 1 million followers.
Asked about her social media strategy, she shared the usual. Be true to yourself, share other users’ posts to gain a community and be “superinvolved” with both followers and customers by engaging in conversations. There is also the fact that she rarely accepts paid posts.
“Everyone is up in arms about paid posts,” said beauty publicist Alison Brod, who likens them to commercials or print ads. But by not taking money for her content, Brod said, Kattan appears more credible to her followers. That has translated to both social media currency and actual dollars. Brod’s client Alterna Haircare saw its Instagram following jump up by 5,000 after Kattan featured its products in a post.
This year will test how well Kattan can truly capitalise on her following. She is releasing a 3D highlighter palette in April, has a foundation collection in the works and, more ambitiously, is planning a rollout to 125 Sephora and Sephora inside J.C. Penney doors starting in July.